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Author Topic: Random Swords & Sorcery Arcs (can you link these?)  (Read 740 times)

cranebump

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Random Swords & Sorcery Arcs (can you link these?)
« on: December 31, 2016, 03:23:39 PM »
Okay, so I generated a couple of adventures using ASSH's random generator. As I got one that contained a clue to the second adventure, I thought I'd post these to see what sort of creative things folks could come up with. Here's the data, you provide the skinny:

Title: “The Shadow of Sorrow”
Mission: Watch Noble/Mountain/Lens
How acquired: Blackmailed
Antagonist: Pirate Captain
Ally: Charismatic Leader of Slave Revolt
Complication: Rebels plotting to overthrow the government
Obstacle: Concealment, Deception or Secrecy
Twist: Original mission is a trap; actual mission is to survive and escape
Reward: Clue to another adventure (maybe the one below?); exotic spices or lotus; 2 loyal henchmen; Some magic item


Title: “A Sign of Sorcery”
Mission: Kill Harlot/Island/Idol
How acquired: Made a wager
Antagonist: Sinister revenant
Ally: Unworldly scholar with vital info
Complication: Local festival creates atmosphere of riot and license
Obstacle: Lack of supplies
Twist: Apparently supernatural is actually mundane
Reward: Gain favor of powerful NPC
"When devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows..."

rawma

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Random Swords & Sorcery Arcs (can you link these?)
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2017, 05:46:22 PM »
Quote from: cranebump;938044
Okay, so I generated a couple of adventures using ASSH's random generator. As I got one that contained a clue to the second adventure, I thought I'd post these to see what sort of creative things folks could come up with. Here's the data, you provide the skinny:


At the risk of being labeled a no-good Skinnygamer, I accept the challenge.

Quote
Title: “The Shadow of Sorrow”
Mission: Watch Noble/Mountain/Lens
How acquired: Blackmailed
Antagonist: Pirate Captain
Ally: Charismatic Leader of Slave Revolt
Complication: Rebels plotting to overthrow the government
Obstacle: Concealment, Deception or Secrecy
Twist: Original mission is a trap; actual mission is to survive and escape
Reward: Clue to another adventure (maybe the one below?); exotic spices or lotus; 2 loyal henchmen; Some magic item


To resolve legal complications from their previous mission(s), the party is sent (supplied with a small fast ship and crew, perhaps) to investigate smugglers who land somewhere along a high rocky coast and carry contraband through a secret mountain pass. They are betrayed by their crew and/or someone working for whomever sent them, and the pirates (who operate a secret base in the cliffs of that shore) ambush and capture their ship. The party escapes to the inhospitable shore, or they are captured by the pirates and must escape captivity. The pirate base has a number of slave workers (creating better paths/tunnels through the mountain, or mining, or growing exotic fungi, or disarming traps in the local dungeon by dying in them); a few escaped slaves with a charismatic leader can assist the players but have their own interests (to overthrow the pirate leader and take over the base). Clue to another adventure in the form of information from another prisoner/escaped slave; exotic spices or lotus from among the smuggled goods; loyal henchmen recruited from the other prisoners/escaped slaves; magic item found in the caves/with another prisoner/stolen from the pirate captain. The title, The Shadow of Sorrow, is the name of the pirates' flagship.

Quote
Title: “A Sign of Sorcery”
Mission: Kill Harlot/Island/Idol
How acquired: Made a wager
Antagonist: Sinister revenant
Ally: Unworldly scholar with vital info
Complication: Local festival creates atmosphere of riot and license
Obstacle: Lack of supplies
Twist: Apparently supernatural is actually mundane
Reward: Gain favor of powerful NPC


OK, I'm stumped as to who would make a wager that requires killing a harlot. But maybe it started out a little less extreme.

I imagine a city with a necromantic/magical reputation, most notable for its annual Mardi Gras-like festival. The festival's ceremonial queen is a harlot with apparent mind control powers over a large number of followers from among the festival attendees; this apparently supernatural element is actually the result of drugging people (perhaps with the contraband smuggled in the previous adventure, and the clue leading to this adventure is some indication of delivery of a particular exotic drug to the festival site). The harlot is the pawn of a sinister revenant who is seeking to unleash actual necromantic sorcery that will turn all of the festival goers into zombies; the harlot is the nexus of these magical rituals and must be killed to derail the magical ritual (steps of the ritual require ordering large numbers of drugged festival goers to carry out bizarre actions of some sort). The party arrives with no particular planning or supplies after making a drunken wager to return with the festival queen's crown, and the festival atmosphere is such that supplies cannot be purchased for love or money until after the festival ends. The unworldly scholar is studying the magical currents of the area and requires constant help in escaping unfortunate situations (mostly from festival goers annoyed that the scholar is not getting into the spirit of things, but eventually agents of the sinister revenant who belatedly sees the scholar as a threat); the vital information is arcane knowledge specific to the festival/city/adventure (depending on the composition of the party, who may or may not have any magical expertise of their own), but in any case points to the need to avert a local/regional/worldwide zombie apocalypse by killing the harlot. Upon success, the party receives the favor of the scholar (outside of the festival city, a notable wizard at an academy of magic) or a powerful ruler who is a close relative of the hapless scholar.

Christopher Brady

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Random Swords & Sorcery Arcs (can you link these?)
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2017, 09:00:34 PM »
Just as an slight aside, D&D 5e has a similar system in the DMG, I'm going to have use it.  Now, for this...  Gimme a few, I have ideas percolating.  Might just do the second.

A Sign of Sorcery

On a small island off the southern coast of the main continent, there's a hedonistic witch/sex cult, whose yearly orgiastic sacrificial rites can often lead to death and/or murder.  The players are either captives or slaves on a ship bound for the island, however, the captain bet that if they could kill the 'Harlot', the name of the leader of this cult, and stop whatever foul sorcery this always causes, they win their freedom and passage back to the mainland.  And possibly some of their old gear.  Maybe.

Other than the unliving master behind the cult, the so-called supernatural power is actually done with powerful hallucinogenics (to steal the drug idea from Rawma, sorry dood, too good not to reuse.)  The issue is two fold, first the PC's have no idea that the 'Harlot' (the so-called leader) is actually another victim, the second is that the witch cult is actually quite popular with the locals who rather enjoy the break of their monotonous lives by making a festival of sex, drugs and music around it.

They will have an ally in a cloaked 'wizard' and scholar who can point them to the true cause of the supposed sorcery, but they would have to seek him out first.

Should they defeat the true evil, the Wizard would be a powerful ally to have whenever they adventure near or on the island itself, which has many other weird wonders.
« Last Edit: January 01, 2017, 09:17:15 PM by Christopher Brady »
"And now, my friends, a Dragon's toast!  To life's little blessings:  wars, plagues and all forms of evil.  Their presence keeps us alert --- and their absence makes us grateful." -T.A. Barron[/SIZE]

rawma

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« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2017, 07:40:05 PM »
Quote from: Christopher Brady;938167
(to steal the drug idea from Rawma, sorry dood, too good not to reuse.)


Do I really seem like someone who would not share good drugs, when there's plenty to go around?

cranebump

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« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2017, 07:34:30 PM »
Great stuff, guys. You know, of course, I'm pilfering the shit out of it.:-) The NPCs look like they'd be really fun to run (esp. the hapless scholar in over his head).  I don't think I've ever run anything featuring a pseudo-Dionysian celebration, so that would something new for me to chew on. Might even be able to draw some parallels with The Bacchae.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2017, 07:38:43 PM by cranebump »
"When devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows..."

Christopher Brady

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« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2017, 08:13:05 PM »
Mine sounds more like a medieval rock concert, probably with more chickens getting their heads bitten off.
"And now, my friends, a Dragon's toast!  To life's little blessings:  wars, plagues and all forms of evil.  Their presence keeps us alert --- and their absence makes us grateful." -T.A. Barron[/SIZE]

cranebump

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« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2017, 08:29:26 PM »
Quote from: Christopher Brady;939864
Mine sounds more like a medieval rock concert, probably with more chickens getting their heads bitten off.

Ha! You know, I'm reminded of when we switched off GM'ing in a campaign a couple years ago, one of the players, a musician, ran us through a riff on "the pick of destiny." By the time the thing ran its course, a couple of PCs had gotten into the narcotics racket.:-)
"When devils will the blackest sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows..."